Moving and Gowanus

Colin woke up with a slight fever this morning so it was a stressful morning. Luckily it was low enough that daycare was still happy to take him in, but he wasn’t himself and I think one of us will have to go get him eventually. Your kid being sick is something that I never thought about until I was a parent, but it’s an absolute brutal situation and effectively one parent has to give up the workday to go take care of him.

Of course, this is all happening as I am starting our move to our new building tomorrow. When we moved to New York last May, we signed a 1 year lease in case that we didn’t like the area, apartment, or the market dropped. Fortunately, we loved the area and apartment but the market did drop so the lease ending gave us flexibility to negotiate.

Ultimately after an annoying negotiation, we ended up signing a new lease in a building down the street. We ended up upgrading in both the unit and building, and lowering our gross and net effective rent. It was a no-brainer but alas we have to deal with this annoying move.

I will say that it’s quite amazing how many new apartment buildings are being built right now in Gowanus. As someone from San Francisco who rarely sees new construction, what’s happening right now in Brooklyn is encouraging. By the end of the year, I believe there may be anywhere between 5-10 new large apartment buildings up and running in the area.

There’s a lot of hoopla about Gowanus and the canal. Yes, it doesn’t look amazing and can smell at times. But I personally love the area. The public perception seems to be very mixed. We view Gowanus as great location that’s up and coming nestled between the popular Carroll Gardens and Park Slope. We have access to both neighborhoods and our commute to the city isn’t that bad.

Most important for me is that the culture of the area is still in-tact. Whenever new high rises go up, the area almost always feels a bit stale and weird. See Mission Bay in San Francisco. But for now, Gowanus is still maintaining a cool culture with lots of great restaurants and spaces. I’m happy to be staying in the area despite a stressful move with a sick kid ahead.